Chapter 9 - The Intruder
Silas crunched over the broken glass, his massive frame blocking the morning light from the doorway.
He was bleeding through his torn suit jacket where Marco had stabbed him, but the pain only seemed to fuel his rage.
“Where is it?” Silas growled, raising the heavy iron crowbar. “Where did she hide the deed?”
I pushed Lily further behind me, toward the sweeping curve of the staircase.
“Run up to your grandmother, Lily,” I whispered fiercely. “Lock the bedroom door and don't come out.”
Lily didn't argue. She scrambled up the stairs, terrified.
Silas lunged forward to grab her, but I threw my suitcase directly into his path.
He tripped over the heavy bag, cursing as he stumbled to one knee.
“There is no deed!” I shouted, backing away slowly. “I burned it last night! You’re risking your life for a pile of ash!”
Silas pulled himself up, his eyes narrowing with lethal intent.
“You’re lying,” he spat. “Vanessa told me the maid had it. If you burned it, I’ll take it out of your hide.”
He swung the crowbar in a wide, vicious arc toward my head.
I ducked, the heavy iron smashing into the antique wooden console table behind me, shattering a priceless vase.
I scrambled backward, frantically searching for anything to use as a weapon.
Before Silas could raise the bar again, a voice echoed like a thunderclap from the top of the stairs.
“Drop it.”
Silas froze.
Luca was standing on the landing.
He wasn't wearing a suit. He was wearing sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt, looking exactly like a father who had been woken up by screaming.
But he was holding a matte-black shotgun, aimed squarely at Silas’s chest.
Answer one: Luca had heard the glass break and had come to protect his home.
Open two: Silas was a desperate, cornered man who knew he had nothing left to lose.
“Put the gun down, Moretti,” Silas sneered, though his grip on the crowbar loosened slightly. “You shoot me, the cops come. The feds come. They’ll tear this house apart looking for the Romano connections.”
“Let them come,” Luca said, his voice terrifyingly calm as he slowly descended the stairs, keeping the weapon perfectly level. “I would rather burn this house to the ground than let a rat like you threaten my family.”
He racked the shotgun. The mechanical sound echoed loudly in the foyer.
“Drop the bar. Now.”
Silas looked at the shotgun, then at the door behind him.
He knew he couldn't win.
With a furious yell, Silas hurled the heavy iron crowbar directly at Luca, not aiming to hit him, but to distract him.
The iron bar slammed into the wooden banister, shattering the railing.
In the split second Luca flinched to avoid the flying shrapnel, Silas bolted for the broken front doors.
Luca didn't shoot him in the back.
He dropped the shotgun and sprinted after him, tackling the massive bodyguard on the front porch.
The two men crashed onto the wet stone, grappling brutally.
Silas was bigger, but Luca was fighting with the ferocious, unyielding rage of a father protecting his child.
I ran to the doorway just in time to see Silas pull a concealed combat knife from his boot.
“Luca, look out!” I screamed.
Luca twisted violently, but the blade caught him across the upper arm, slicing through his white t-shirt.
Blood instantly bloomed across the fabric.
Luca didn't even cry out. He used the momentum of the twist to drive his knee directly into Silas’s wounded side.
Silas groaned in agony, dropping the knife.
Luca delivered a final, devastating punch to the bodyguard’s jaw, knocking him completely unconscious on the wet stone.
It was over.
Luca stood up slowly, clutching his bleeding arm.
He was breathing heavily, the adrenaline slowly draining from his system.
I ran out onto the porch, ignoring the freezing air, and pressed my hands against his bleeding arm.
“You’re hurt,” I gasped, terrified by the amount of blood.
“It’s a graze,” Luca panted, looking down at me.
He didn't look at his wound. He looked at my face, searching my eyes with a desperate intensity.
“You didn't run,” Luca whispered, his chest heaving.
A reversal.
I had my bags packed. I had a taxi on the way. I had every reason to flee through the back door the moment Silas broke in.
But I hadn't.
“I couldn't leave Lily,” I said, my voice shaking.
“Just Lily?” Luca asked, stepping closer, ignoring the blood dripping down his arm.
I looked up at the mafia boss. The man who terrified the city, but who had just risked his life in sweatpants to protect me.
“No,” I whispered, the truth finally breaking through the walls I had built to protect myself. “Not just Lily.”
Luca let out a shuddering breath.
He reached up with his uninjured hand and gently cupped my face.
His thumb traced the line of my jaw, wiping away a tear I hadn't realized was falling.
“Stay,” Luca pleaded, his voice breaking. “Don't polish silver. Don't wear the uniform. Just stay.”
May you like
He pressed his forehead against mine.
“I need you, Sophie. We need you.”
